On the Care and Maintenance of Small Animals
by peroxidepest17
Summary: Hibari has only ever had a soft spot for two things: Namimori and tiny animals.


**Title:** On the Care and Maintenance of Small Animals  
**Universe:** Reborn  
**Theme/Topic:** N/A  
**Rating:** PG  
**Character/Pairing/s:** Hibari, Tsuna (lightly HibarixTsuna)  
**Spoilers/Warnings:** Spoilers through the end of TYL  
**Word Count: **2,840  
**Summary:** Hibari has only ever had a soft spot for two things: Namimori and tiny animals.  
**Dedication:** juin's second request, for buying Teahouse. Sorry this is so lame, me and pairings are stupid together lately.  
**A/N:** LOL out of practice yo. Also, I don't really know how to write Hibari. XD;;  
**Disclaimer:** No harm or infringement intended.

* * *

Hibari Kyouya has a soft spot for two things and two things only in this world.

The first is his hometown. He loves everything about it except probably the people, because the people seem to want nothing more than to ruin the natural beauty of Namimori or threaten the scenic splendor of the town with their noise and their stupidity and the fact that they keep stirring up conflicts that Hibari has to actively (and often violently) put down so that he can enjoy some peace and quiet. He tolerates the people well enough though, because they are a part of Namimori that simply can't be helped.

The second thing Hibari likes is small animals. This might seem like a strange character quirk upon initial consideration because people generally seem to think that someone who is as cutthroat and violent as Hibari is shouldn't really be expected to be kind to animals, but the logic behind his favoring them is really very sound when you stop to think about it. Small animals know their place in this world. Small animals are as far removed from being threats to Namimori as he can imagine; they are docile, weak creatures that only seek to survive, that only seek to go about their daily business and are content to not stir the pot. They are meek and straightforward and don't actively search for any greater glory than a day's meal, a place to sleep, and the chance to do the same thing over and over again, day in and day out. Hibari likes them because they know their place and only wish to maintain it.

Also, they are kind of cute. In the case of hedgehogs and Hibird and puppies, sometimes small animals are kind of incredibly cute.

So, in keeping those those two particular likes in mind, the reason why it shouldn't be as strange as it seems that Hibari Kyouya, an anti-social stickler for rules, regulation, order, and quiet, ends up—much to everybody's surprise— spending more than ten years at the side of one Sawada Tsunayoshi, who, at first glance, is all of the things that Hibari Kyouya _doesn't_ like (being himself a person and often unintentionally causing a lot of ruckus in beautiful Namimori town).

But when you stop to think about it a little bit, the whole thing really does make an odd sort of sense.

In the years between now and the ten years from now that Hibari will—at great risk to his own life—singlehandedly defend the Vongola after developing the strategy that will save them all, there is an incident that occurs between Hibari and Tsuna that effectively seals Hibari's loyalties (however unwittingly) forever. Tsuna doesn't know this when it happens of course, but then again, that might have been part of the charm in the first place.

On the morning of that day, Hibari saves a small brown dog from being tortured to death by a group of delinquent teenagers who spend most of their time skulking around behind the convenience store on the northernmost corner of town, close to the woods that border Namimori. Hibari has beaten them up on numerous occasions before, most often for bringing down both the general aesthetic and the property value of the neighborhood by spending their time squatting in circles and smoking on the sidewalks. That morning he is especially fierce because as far as he is concerned, mindless herbivores like them shouldn't be trying to kill carnivores higher up on the food chain than they are, and after breaking several fingers and noses, Hibari swiftly sends the delinquents running through the woods, presumably back to the homes of their over-indulgent parents.

The small dog, bruised and a little bloody and apparently very stupid and grateful, starts wagging its tail and tagging along at Hibari's feet after that, all with a hopeful, friendly, and far too trusting look in its big brown eyes. Despite the fact that it had just been beat up by a bunch of humans that had been roughly the same size as Hibari (if not larger), the dog still manages to look at Hibari without any trace of fear or mistrust. HIbari thinks that maybe the dog is a little bit mentally deficient for this, and wonders if this is maybe why those three kids had decided taken advantage of its unreasonable friendliness to beat it up. Hibari very seriously tells the dog that it should probably go somewhere less conspicuous and get medical attention, but apparently it is not nearly as smart as Hibird and doesn't listen to him.

The dog, bruised and bloody and stupid and grateful, follows Hibari for the better part of the day on his rounds, ruining the element of surprise on a couple of occasions and chasing away all the squirrels in the park when Hibari stops there to eat lunch and survey the passersby from the top branches of the tallest tree.

The dog stays with him like that until Hibari gets a little bit fed up and finally puts his patrol pattern on momentary hold to pick the dog up; he turns around and grudgingly takes it home, where he drops it off with his mother.

"It probably needs bandages," he tells her, as he hands it over.

She instantly takes pity on the poor adorable thing; she decides to adopt it and name it Pochi (Hibari's mother is very creative). She proceeds to declare that it is her civic duty to feed the poor thing until the pain goes away. Hibari is glad that his mother is a civic-minded and responsible citizen of Namimori.

Hibari doesn't say anything more to either his mother or Pochi on his way out the door again, trusting that Pochi will thus be properly occupied by food and his mother's doting attentions. But much to his surprise, before he can close the gate to his lawn behind him, he hears the dog abandon the steak his mother has made it for lunch and run out of the door after him; it stops in front of the bars to the front gate, looking up at him with a rapidly wagging tail and a few barks of what Hibari can only assume is the doggy equivalent of saying "Itterashai." That is when Hibari supposes this means Pochi is probably going to be his friend for life now, kind of like Hibird. He is okay with this because Pochi isn't in any way offensive or threatening to the harmony of Namimori or to Hibari's job of keeping the peace.

Pochi is even kind of cute, in a bruised and bloody and gratefully stupid kind of way.

Later that afternoon, once he is back on patrol again and only slightly behind schedule, Hibari runs across another group of delinquents in the alleyway between the arcade and the corner market. He has never seen them before in his life, which means that they are either new to Namimori or just passing through, and he stops to observe as the three of them stand in a menacing semi-circle beside the alleyway's trash and recycling bins, all very large and looming as they surround a cowering, brown-haired, brown-eyed, Sawada Tsunayoshi.

Sawada's usual attending entourage of wannabe carnivores doesn't seem to be present, which is odd. Hibari thinks that there is an away baseball came that Yamamoto Takeshi is probably taking part in, and as for Gokudera Hayato, his not being attached to Sawada's side right now probably means that he is either incapacitated, dead, or being forced into some sort of unholy bonding ritual with the woman who kills things with food. Even the tiny, deadly baby is nowhere to be seen—or is just simply lurking somewhere where he cannot be seen— and as the three lumbering bullies bear down on Sawada in the meantime, Hibari discerns that the idiot doesn't seem to be up to fighting back, even though Hibari is certain that while he still considers Sawada a complete herbivore, he also knows him to be strong enough to be considered an herbivore that stands at the very top of the herbivore food chain.

The three lumbering lower-order herbivores don't know this however, and continue to menace Sawada against the wall, speaking in low, threatening tones while Sawada chuckles in a sheepishly self-deprecating manner and apologizes for dropping the kimchi he was picking up for his mother on the middle one's shoes just now.

Hibari decides that the possible reasons why Sawada isn't fighting back include:

He is stupid.

He does not wish to disturb the peace.

He does not want to hurt the three lumbering bullies.

Whatever the reason, Sawada promptly gets punched once in the jaw and then twice in the stomach for his troubles, before he is picked up and thrown into the arcade's recycling bin, sending PET bottles flying everywhere.

Hibari's eyes narrow at that. For one, Hibari does not like litter; it makes Namimori look messy and cheap. Also, Sawada is an official citizen of Namimori, and while Hibari generally doesn't generally approve of people at large, he also accepts them as a general part of the town he loves so much. Naturally, on his mental hierarchy of people, Namimori citizens always take precedence over non-Namimori citizens.

So the bullies already have two strikes against them just like that, and given that Hibari is a little bit annoyed from having his schedule delayed by that sweet but somewhat deficient puppy earlier, he sets forth with a tonfa in either hand and cracks each of the three bullies over the head without a single word of warning, sending the lot of them into instant unconsciousness on the alley floor without much flash or fanfare.

That done, Hibari begins picking up the scattered PET bottles.

"H-Hibari-san!" Sawada stammers in the meantime, as he struggles to sit up in the recycling bin as Hibari drops a couple of the reclaimed bottles over his head, back into the compartment where they belong. Sawada beams at Hibari, a little bit bruised and a little bit bloody and completely grateful and stupid. "That was er, that was… very efficient," he notes, and finally finds a handhold to help get him out of the recycling.

Hibari frowns at him, seeing the blood on his lip and the bruise on his jaw as he looks up at Hibari with big brown eyes and a big, stupid smile on his face.

Hibari turns away and continues to pick up more of the scattered bottles as Sawada struggles out of the bin, and before long, the smaller boy is at his side, hastily helping him gather the plastic containers up in his arms so that he can deposit them in the bin again, the two middle-schoolers picking their way around the unconscious out-of-towner bullies as they work. One of the bullies groans suddenly and Sawada flinches in sympathy, asking, "Do you think they'll be okay?" in such a way that makes Hibari think that he has completely forgotten that moments ago, these three human beings had meant to do him harm.

It is kind of stupid and Hibari gets a fleeting, inexplicable feeling of déjà vu as Sawada continues to tag alongside him in their civic bottle-retrieving duties. The bullies flinch a few more times, and Hibari concedes that they will continue live, though if he has any say on the matter, not in Namimori.

Sawada apparently comes to the same conclusion that they'll survive, because once they are done picking up the bottles and Hibari turns to continue on his circuit of the town, Sawada follows him.

"So you're going this way then?" the smaller boy asks, in a shyly conversational tone, still bleeding a bit from the lip and with half of his face starting to swell. "Me too. I need to buy kimchi." It once again gives Hibari that same feeling of already having done this once before, and without turning to acknowledge the smaller boy, Hibari increases his pace down the street and away from him.

Sawada doesn't seem to get the hint and keeps following him anyway.

"It's erm…it's a nice day, isn't it?" Sawada begins thoughtfully a few moments later, interrupting Hibari's silent perusal of the area around the park in so doing, his hands shoved in his pockets and the swelling along his jaw becoming progressively larger and making him look even more bruised and bloody and stupidly grateful.

Hibari doesn't answer him, hoping that unlike Pochi, Sawada will be at least intelligent enough to stop looking at him with those big, stupid eyes.

He doesn't of course, and Hibari silently moves on towards the streets lining the neighborhoods.

"So this is what Hibari-san does on his Saturdays, huh?" Sawada begins again a little while later, as Hibari is busy taking notice of a row of overgrown hedges along the Tanaka's property; he makes a mental note to contact them about keeping their plants properly maintained and as he does, realizes that Sawada's question isn't really a question so much as an awed and sort of admiring observation on the nature of Hibari's work in Namimori.

Knowing that makes him feel oddly uncomfortable, and so he stands and, for the second time that day, turns around, taking Sawada firmly by the shoulder and steering him in the opposite direction of where he had been originally planning to go.

"H-hibari-san?" Sawada asks, and starts to look vaguely nervous now. "What's wrong? Where are we going?"

Hibari continues to not speak to him.

They arrive in front of Sawada's house fifteen minutes later, which completely blows the entire rest of Hibari's daily itinerary out the window. Sawada's mother is in the front lawn, hanging laundry, and turns to look at her son and his new companion with a bright, vacant smile when she hears them approaching. "Tsu-kun, you sure took a long time!" she breathes, and finishes hanging a bed sheet before turning to properly greet them at the gate. "Ara? Who's your new friend?"

"Ah…this is um, this is Hibari-san," Sawada explains with an awkward laugh, and Hibari suddenly feels very tired.

That is when Sawada's mother notices the bruise on his cheek and the blood on his lip. She frowns in concern. "Tsu-kun, what happened?" she exclaims in gentle clucking tones, and rushes forward with her apron to wipe the blood from his mouth. "Did you fall again?"

"Something like that," Sawada admits, rubbing the back of his head in an embarrassed gesture.

Hibari happily releases Sawada into his mother's care at that point, stating, "He probably needs bandages," in a perfunctory way before turning to leave.

Sawada and mother are busy fussing at each other in the meantime, and job thus done, Hibari starts to pad down the street, back in the direction he had come from, hoping to resume his original route and some of his original routine.

He is almost at the first intersection when he hears footsteps pounding on the pavement behind him, and a stuttered, "Hi-Hibari-san!" in an all too familiar voice.

When he turns to look over his shoulder it is indeed Sawada running after him, still slightly bloody and swollen, now slightly out of breath as well.

"Hibari-san!" Sawada gasps, as he skids to a stop and takes several big, deep breaths before he speaks again, "Thank you for, for, um, for saving me just now." He pauses then, and offers an ingenuously sweet, crooked kind of smile, eyes big and brown and strangely optimistic. "And you know, thank you for always protecting Namimori too."

Then, growing apparently embarrassed, Sawada makes a small bow of his head before turning around and quickly scampering back up the street, to the home and the doting mother that waits for him there.

Hibari finds himself inexplicably lingering at that spot for a moment longer afterwards, before he forces himself to turn around and walk away. He realizes that those earlier feelings of déjà vu he had experienced are just now finally coming to their violent and inevitable head.

He is not sure if the knowledge they bring is entirely welcome.

Because just now, as Hibari had regarded Sawada's, bloody, stupidly hopeful expression, he had been inexplicably reminded of Pochi.

Hibari can't help but wonder, vaguely, if this means that he has made another sweet but slightly deficient friend for life today, without meaning to at all.

With a sigh, he continues walking in the direction of Namimori High School, hoping to find some loitering teenagers polluting the grounds there so that he can scare the snot out of them and keep today from being an entire waste.

Grudgingly, he supposes he can admit that Sawada Tsunayoshi is maybe kind of acceptable, in an entirely bruised and bloody, gratefully stupid kind of way, in a way that makes stronger species instinctively want to protect him despite knowing better.

In other words, in a ridiculously _cute_ sort of way.

That, Hibari grudgingly concedes, is just the charm of small animals.

**END**


End file.
